- ICH GCP
- US Clinical Trials Registry
- Clinical Trial NCT01509573
Pilot Feasibility Trial of the Family Strengthening Intervention in Rwanda (FSI-R)
Family-Based Prevention of Mental Health Problems in HIV/AIDS-Affected Children (R34MH084679-01A1)
The research will examine the following Specific Aims:
Specific Aim 1: To adapt a U.S.-developed family-focused and strengths-based prevention program to the context of HIV/AIDS-affected families in Rwanda (the Family-Strengthening Intervention in Rwanda or "FSI-R") using prior qualitative findings and CAB input.
Specific Aim 2: To deliver the intervention to a small group of families to collect preliminary data on intervention feasibility, acceptability, and to further refine the intervention manual for the FSI-R.
Specific Aim 3: To conduct a pilot feasibility study of the FSI-R with 80 families.
In pursuit of Specific Aim 3, this research will (a) conduct a preliminary exploratory analysis to examine the extent to which the FSI-R for HIV/AIDS-affected families is associated with improved caregiver-child relationships using measures of family connectedness, good parenting, and social support. Hypothesis 1: Participants in the FSI-R will demonstrate increases in protective processes compared to usual care controls not exposed to the FSI-R. It will also (b) conduct a preliminary exploratory analysis to determine the extent to which improved caregiver-child relationships are sustained four months after the conclusion of the FSI-R. Hypothesis 2: Four months after the conclusion of the intervention, participants in the FSI-R will demonstrate increases in protective processes compared to usual care controls not exposed to the FSI-R.
Study Overview
Status
Conditions
Intervention / Treatment
Detailed Description
Study Type
Enrollment (Actual)
Phase
- Not Applicable
Contacts and Locations
Study Locations
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Rwinkwavu, Rwanda
- Partners In Health/Inshuti Mu Buzima (PIH/IMB)
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Participation Criteria
Eligibility Criteria
Ages Eligible for Study
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Genders Eligible for Study
Description
Inclusion criteria: All participants must be HIV/AIDS-affected (i.e., having an HIV+ family member, including those who have died). We will select single and dual caregiver families to reflect population dynamics in the area. Caregivers must be at least 18 years of age (the age of majority in Rwanda), must live in the same household as the children, and must be the child's legal guardian. Legal guardians may be aunts, uncles, grandparents, or foster parents. Caregivers must be willing to discuss HIV/AIDS with school-aged children in the family.
Exclusion Criteria: Potential participants will be excluded if they do not live in the Rwinkwavu catchment area. Untreated mental illness or active suicidal ideation/attempts in the family also constitutes exclusion criteria (mental health treatment for these problems may occur in conjunction with the FSI). HIV-positive children are ineligible for the study if their HIV status has not been disclosed to them. Exclusion criteria also include lack of caregiver willingness to discuss HIV/AIDS with school-aged children in the family. Youth-headed households will be excluded due to concerns about youth caregivers' capacity to participate in the FSI in addition to other caretaking duties.
Study Plan
How is the study designed?
Design Details
- Primary Purpose: Prevention
- Allocation: Randomized
- Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
- Masking: None (Open Label)
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
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Experimental: FSI-R (Intervention group)
The intervention group will participate in the mental health assessments and FSI-R, and will participate in post-intervention assessments and follow-up assessments.
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Core components of the FSI-R are derived from the FBPI theoretical framework, and were chosen to address key risk factors identified in qualitative data. The FSI-R holds separate preliminary meetings with caregivers and children to prepare for a larger family meeting. In these modules, the interventionist helps caregivers and children prioritize concerns or key messages that they most want to share with the other party. Role play and discussions are used to impart improved parenting and communication skills. In the family meetings, children and caregivers share their concerns with one another and develop a shared family narrative, which integrates past events into a singular story with shared goals and a future orientation. These family modules also discuss the services and supports (formal and non-formal resources) that the family can engage with in order to achieve their shared goals. 8-12 weeks for 1-2 hours per week, depending on each family's pace and coverage of the material. |
No Intervention: TAU (Treatment as Usual)
The TAU control group will not receive any intervention, but will participate in treatment as usual as provided by Partners In Health.
They will complete assessments at all three time points.
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What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
---|---|---|
Change from Baseline in Mental Health of Children and Caregivers
Time Frame: Administered to caregivers and school-aged children in each cohort three times: once within 15 days prior to the start of the intervention, once within 15 days of intervention completion, and again 4 months following intervention completion.
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The Mental Health Assessment Batteries for Children and Caregivers are comprehensive surveys addressing a range of locally-relevant mental health problems and protective processes, as well as issues like functioning, stigma, hope, harsh parenting, parent-child relationships, and other risk and protective factors.
The mental health components of the assessments have been subject to a validation study in this community.
They were developed using qualitative data gathered from this population in 2007 and 2009.
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Administered to caregivers and school-aged children in each cohort three times: once within 15 days prior to the start of the intervention, once within 15 days of intervention completion, and again 4 months following intervention completion.
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Collaborators and Investigators
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Theresa S Betancourt, ScD, MA, Associate Professor, Harvard School of Public Health
Publications and helpful links
General Publications
- Bolton P, Bass J, Betancourt T, Speelman L, Onyango G, Clougherty KF, Neugebauer R, Murray L, Verdeli H. Interventions for depression symptoms among adolescent survivors of war and displacement in northern Uganda: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2007 Aug 1;298(5):519-27. doi: 10.1001/jama.298.5.519.
- Beardslee WR. Prevention and the clinical encounter. Am J Orthopsychiatry. 1998 Oct;68(4):521-33. doi: 10.1037/h0080361.
- Beardslee WR, Gladstone TR, Wright EJ, Cooper AB. A family-based approach to the prevention of depressive symptoms in children at risk: evidence of parental and child change. Pediatrics. 2003 Aug;112(2):e119-31. doi: 10.1542/peds.112.2.e119.
- Beardslee WR, Salt P, Versage EM, Gladstone TR, Wright EJ, Rothberg PC. Sustained change in parents receiving preventive interventions for families with depression. Am J Psychiatry. 1997 Apr;154(4):510-5. doi: 10.1176/ajp.154.4.510.
- Beardslee WR, Wright E, Rothberg PC, Salt P, Versage E. Response of families to two preventive intervention strategies: long-term differences in behavior and attitude change. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1996 Jun;35(6):774-82. doi: 10.1097/00004583-199606000-00017.
- Betancourt TS, Meyers-Ohki S, Stulac SN, Barrera AE, Mushashi C, Beardslee WR. Nothing can defeat combined hands (Abashize hamwe ntakibananira): protective processes and resilience in Rwandan children and families affected by HIV/AIDS. Soc Sci Med. 2011 Sep;73(5):693-701. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.06.053. Epub 2011 Jul 23.
- Tol WA, Barbui C, Galappatti A, Silove D, Betancourt TS, Souza R, Golaz A, van Ommeren M. Mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian settings: linking practice and research. Lancet. 2011 Oct 29;378(9802):1581-91. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61094-5. Epub 2011 Oct 16.
- Betancourt TS, Borisova II, de la Soudiere M, Williamson J. Sierra Leone's child soldiers: war exposures and mental health problems by gender. J Adolesc Health. 2011 Jul;49(1):21-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.09.021. Epub 2010 Dec 24.
- Betancourt TS. Attending to the mental health of war-affected children: the need for longitudinal and developmental research perspectives. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2011 Apr;50(4):323-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2011.01.008. No abstract available.
- Betancourt TS, Borisova II, Williams TP, Brennan RT, Whitfield TH, de la Soudiere M, Williamson J, Gilman SE. Sierra Leone's former child soldiers: a follow-up study of psychosocial adjustment and community reintegration. Child Dev. 2010 Jul-Aug;81(4):1077-95. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01455.x.
- Betancourt TS, Brennan RT, Rubin-Smith J, Fitzmaurice GM, Gilman SE. Sierra Leone's former child soldiers: a longitudinal study of risk, protective factors, and mental health. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2010 Jun;49(6):606-15. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2010.03.008. Epub 2010 May 1.
- Betancourt TS, Agnew-Blais J, Gilman SE, Williams DR, Ellis BH. Past horrors, present struggles: the role of stigma in the association between war experiences and psychosocial adjustment among former child soldiers in Sierra Leone. Soc Sci Med. 2010 Jan;70(1):17-26. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.09.038. Epub 2009 Oct 28.
- Betancourt TS, Simmons S, Borisova I, Brewer SE, Iweala U, Soudiere MD. High Hopes, Grim Reality: Reintegration and the Education of Former Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone. Comp Educ Rev. 2008 Nov 1;52(4):565-587. doi: 10.1086/591298. No abstract available.
- Betancourt TS, Bass J, Borisova I, Neugebauer R, Speelman L, Onyango G, Bolton P. Assessing local instrument reliability and validity: a field-based example from northern Uganda. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2009 Aug;44(8):685-92. doi: 10.1007/s00127-008-0475-1. Epub 2009 Jan 22.
- Verdeli H, Clougherty K, Onyango G, Lewandowski E, Speelman L, Betancourt TS, Neugebauer R, Stein TR, Bolton P. Group Interpersonal Psychotherapy for depressed youth in IDP camps in Northern Uganda: adaptation and training. Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2008 Jul;17(3):605-24, ix. doi: 10.1016/j.chc.2008.03.002.
- Betancourt TS, Speelman L, Onyango G, Bolton P. A qualitative study of mental health problems among children displaced by war in northern Uganda. Transcult Psychiatry. 2009 Jun;46(2):238-56. doi: 10.1177/1363461509105815.
- Betancourt TS, Khan KT. The mental health of children affected by armed conflict: protective processes and pathways to resilience. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2008 Jun;20(3):317-28. doi: 10.1080/09540260802090363.
- Betancourt TS. Child soldiers: reintegration, pathways to recovery, and reflections from the field. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2008 Apr;29(2):138-41. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0b013e31816be946. No abstract available.
- Betancourt TS, Williams T. Building an evidence base on mental health interventions for children affected by armed conflict. Intervention (Amstelveen). 2008;6(1):39-56. doi: 10.1097/WTF.0b013e3282f761ff.
- Betancourt T, Scorza P, Meyers-Ohki S, Mushashi C, Kayiteshonga Y, Binagwaho A, Stulac S, Beardslee WR. Validating the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children in Rwanda. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2012 Dec;51(12):1284-92. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2012.09.003. Epub 2012 Nov 8.
- Scorza P, Stevenson A, Canino G, Mushashi C, Kanyanganzi F, Munyanah M, Betancourt T. Validation of the "World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule for children, WHODAS-Child" in Rwanda. PLoS One. 2013;8(3):e57725. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0057725. Epub 2013 Mar 7.
- Betancourt TS, Meyers-Ohki SE, Charrow A, Hansen N. Annual Research Review: Mental health and resilience in HIV/AIDS-affected children-- a review of the literature and recommendations for future research. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2013 Apr;54(4):423-44. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2012.02613.x. Epub 2012 Sep 4.
- Betancourt TS, Ng LC, Kirk CM, Brennan RT, Beardslee WR, Stulac S, Mushashi C, Nduwimana E, Mukunzi S, Nyirandagijimana B, Kalisa G, Rwabukwisi CF, Sezibera V. Family-based promotion of mental health in children affected by HIV: a pilot randomized controlled trial. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2017 Aug;58(8):922-930. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12729. Epub 2017 May 15.
Helpful Links
Study record dates
Study Major Dates
Study Start
Primary Completion (Actual)
Study Completion (Actual)
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
First Posted (Estimate)
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Estimate)
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
Last Verified
More Information
Terms related to this study
Keywords
Additional Relevant MeSH Terms
Other Study ID Numbers
- RPCGA-FSI-15440
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